The History Department aims to elicit, engage and excite each girl’s innate curiosity about the past.  We offer a ranging curriculum within which girls study a variety of medieval, early modern and modern historical topics, the details of which are available for download in the School curriculum booklets elsewhere on this site.  Through investigating a diverse set of topics, we promote and strive to instil in the girls an appreciation of and respect for the past, and for its peoples, societies and cultures.  Equally, the study of History provides girls with the opportunity to develop fundamental skills of analysis and evaluation, and we aim to cultivate those as fully as possible, encouraging girls to read critically, write persuasively and articulate their ideas confidently and cogently.  Of course, we value enjoyment of History and seek to inspire girls to share this through exploring and discovering compelling events, personalities and ideas that have shaped the past and continue to have resonance today.

 

All KEHS girls study History in years 7, 8 and 9, and thereafter History remains a popular subject option: the majority of girls take the GCSE course in years 10 and 11, and a considerable number progress to A-level study in the Sixth Form each year. 

 

The Department is staffed by four subject specialists who teach in dedicated History classrooms.  Teaching methods vary appropriately across the curricular and age ranges; interpretation of the past lends itself to discussion, debate and questioning, and these elements form an important aspect of the girls’ learning, especially when they reach GCSE and A-level studies.  Simultaneously, we seek to develop girls’ abilities to work both collaboratively and independently, including how to undertake individual research.  Our curricular work for girls of all ages promotes use of the School Library and discerning application of ICT.  By Sixth Form level girls are encouraged to become well-informed subject enthusiasts who read widely around historical topics and are able to engage more sophisticated, specialist resources.  Pupils completing A-level coursework, for example, access the collections of nearby Birmingham University Library.